ABSTRACT
Waste and improper waste management have been a serious concern globally. Ignorance about this cause leads not only to depletion of available resources, but also to hazardous effects on the environment. Recently, researchers have begun to come up with some solutions. A microbial fuel cell (MFC) is one such technology emerging in the last two decades. A MFC is a bio-electrochemical system that employs microorganisms as biocatalysts for the conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy from waste compounds. With its proven applications in wastewater treatment, resource recovery, bioremediation, and alternate fuel production, the MFC has been one of the trending research topics. The present chapter focuses on the biocatalytic mechanism, reactor configuration, and energy recovery from biowastes such as wastewater in MFC. An insight into the organic matter degradation, suitable parameters, energy recovery, and strategies to improve the performance is given. Furthermore, considerable comparison on large-scale studies is made and suggestions on the design of a cost-effective and efficient system for bioenergy generation from wastewater treatment in MFC are also given.
